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Senior Editor  Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007     | |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1360 Joined: 17 Apr 2009     | Should have went with Borderlands. Now that I have that out of the way, good review. I have only one true question, wouldn't it be easier to just blow everybody away then go through the game? In true aspects to the movies there should only be like 10 people in the building right? Either way, I like the idea that the game makes you think before you act, nice change from run and gun. |
Beat Writer  Posts: 210 Joined: 21 Nov 2008     | Any particular reason why you guys never tag the reviews with which platform the game is for, like every other site? Or are you working under the assumption that we all have every gaming platform available to us? Just wondering! |
PROBATION  Posts: 1392 Joined: 21 Jul 2008     | THIS! THIS THIS THIS IS WHAT MOVIE BASED GAMES HAVE TO BE LIKE, CAPTURE THE ESSENCE OF THE FILM BY ADAPTING A NEW GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE TO IT! Seriously, this one looks like it could be worth a damn. Better than any of those Pixar games User was put on probation for: Poll: Round 1 - West: (3) Bungie vs. (14) Quantic Dream. (7 days) |
Senior Editor Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007 |
Ack, you are absolutely right. That's an oversight on my part. I shall update the review accordingly. Apologies for not including such important information. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2300 Joined: 22 Sep 2009    | Im waiting for this to come out in Europe, looking forwards to a good puzzle game, be the first i will own on my xbox! |
Beat Writer  Posts: 159 Joined: 1 Jun 2009    |
Yeah... alright Susan. I got it... *Backs away slowly, looking for a blunt object to defend himself with* OT: Seriously, it took them six movies (and quite frankly, they should have stopped at two) to come up with the idea to do a game for it? I love puzzle games, and one that's horror based does have a tendency to whet my appetite (the Silent Hill series is a prime example). Its a shame the controls suck, as you seem to allude to. I might rent this. Thanks for the review. |
Muckraker  Posts: 241 Joined: 7 Apr 2009    | Nice review. I'd get this game if I had any money. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2389 Joined: 14 Sep 2008   | Saw isn't based on horror movies since the Saw series isn't part of the horror genre and I will personally punch you in the face if you say otherwise. So yeah I hate the movies so I will probably hate the game and I won't give it a chance to impress me. But it's a nice review. |
Senior Editor Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007 |
Oh, really? You're going to punch me in the face? Good to know. No, if you hate of the movies -- which are horror, whether you like them or not -- you will almost assuredly hate this game, as it is drenched in the franchise's trappings. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 100 Joined: 31 Jul 2009   | "move-based games" Susan? I think you're missing an "i" there. We all make mistakes but I'm just letting you know. This looks more like a rental game, it's not quite Silent Hill but I'm a fan so I'll give it a go. Good review as always. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 487 Joined: 21 Jun 2009    | Ooh, thanks for the review. I'll give it a rental if I can find it, though I find it heartening to hear of a good movie based game. (Man, I sounded camp in that first sentence.) |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2389 Joined: 14 Sep 2008 |
Damn it. Why do you have to respond? I can't hurt you.
No The Exorcist is a horror movie. The Saw series belongs to the torture porn genre or snuff movies. You watch a Saw movie to see the death scenes, which are good, but you don't watch them to get scared and I have no idea how you can get scared watching that. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 4669 Joined: 28 May 2009   | Love the review and the game looks good, but I've got a ton of other games ahead of this one on the list of games to play, so I doubt I'll ever get to it unless I find it in a cheap bin or a pawn shop somewhere... which sucks because I know I'd enjoy this title. |
Senior Editor Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007 |
You seem to have a very specific view of what constitutes a horror movie. I certainly agree that The Exorcist is a horror movie, but the Saw films - gratuitous though they may be - certainly qualify, as well. (Especially the first one, which has a more sophisticated story than just "let's find creative ways to kill people.") Now, don't get me wrong, they're not good movies. The writing is a joke and the plots are threadbare excuses to set up the next kill. And yes, the Saw films did usher in the torture porn genre, in much the same way that the original Halloween (one of the best horror movies of all time, IMO), ushered in the 80s glut of slasher flicks. Horror films are cyclic - the popularity of The Ring created the PG-13 horror genre, leading to movies being cut specifically to fit that rating. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 470 Joined: 10 Jun 2008    | Well, I know reviews are subjective, and I usually judge games on aggregates and averages. I'm a bit surprised you commented on the puzzles as most all other reviewers say after you figured out the first few puzzles, you more or less figured them all out....Rinse and repeat...Did you notice that when you played? GR gave it a 67% |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2527 Joined: 16 Aug 2008   | it actually looks pretty awesome. why is it always a head? |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1854 Joined: 8 Apr 2008    | I'm going to have to disagree with you about saying it's not Survival Horror. As far as I'm aware, survival horror and puzzles usually go hand in hand. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 811 Joined: 16 Jun 2008  | The saw movies never appealed to me, I don't know why but the whole idea of them just never excited me. Yet for some reason I got very excited when I heard about this game during E3 and that it didn't suck. I'm wary though, I haven't rented a game in years; the last ones being the 2 Fullmetal Alchemist games for the ps2(awesome games for anyone who loves the series), but blockbuster may see me as a customer in the near future to try this one out. |
Paperboy  Posts: 40 Joined: 26 Dec 2008     |
I think Stephen King's defense of the "torture porn" genre (albeit stated in response to criticism of the abysmal-for-reasons-not-relating-to-torture-porn-status Hostel Part II) applies here: "horror" is an evolving genre. What scared people years ago won't scare people as much now (Poltergeist was considered the scariest thing ever in the '70s. Now barely tingles a spine today). And what scares people today probably won't have as much impact twenty years from now. The "torture porn" genre does what it sets out to do: to get under the skin of the viewers and disturb them, even frighten them. Saw is, indeed, noteworthy for its elaborate deathtraps and gory death sequences, but as Susan mentioned in her review, it's also about Jigsaw, a villain who isn't like the slasher villains of yore, who delivers wonderfully chilling performances every time. I'm not going to hold up the franchise as a bastion of amazing and coherent storytelling (as much as I love the movies and enjoyed the game, I'll be first to say the plots are laughable at best and incoherent and nonsensical at worst), but it sets out to be more psychological than other franchises. The villain honestly thinks he is doing good work and doing the world a favor with his sadistic games. More to the point, he thinks he's doing the victims a favor. It disturbs you by attempting (with varying success) to turn the good and evil dichotomy of horror upside down. The first movie was remarkable in its rather minimalist approach (other than the elaborate traps featured early in the movie and the reverse bear trap sequence, the majority of the story takes place in one room, with the main characters barely moving from their positions, and yet still manages to be unnerving and spooky). As for the review, it was excellent. I agree with it wholeheartedly. It's definitely more of a rental if you're not a die-hard Saw fan, but it's also definitely worth at least giving a try if you're a fan of survival horror or puzzlers. (I played the 360 version of it myself, and yes, the controls are just as shoddy. I shudder to think what the PC version will be like, having played the PC version of Silent Hill: Homecoming.) |
BANNED  Posts: 935 Joined: 20 Jul 2009    | Looks ok.... just not so big on Saw User was banned for: Zero Punctuation: Darksiders. (Permanent) |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 473 Joined: 15 Aug 2009     | Good review, terrible game. |
Press Junketeer Posts: 473 Joined: 15 Aug 2009 |
What actually qualifies SAW as a Horror, I can understand Halloween and The Ring being more atmospherically based alongside tension build ups etc. SAW is pretty much 1. Puppeteer who has as much anger vs the world as an angsty teenage girl except has the means to carry out his plans. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 704 Joined: 30 Sep 2009   |
You get off on bloody neck stumps? Most of us care about our fellow human being enough at least be afraid FOR them. Saw is horror weather you like it or not. After all, horror is an evolving genre. Saw is just different horror. |
Senior Editor Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007 |
There is a lot of repetition to the puzzles, yeah. Even one that aren't specific repeats are very similar thematically. But I still thought they were clever, on the whole. I personally appreciated a more "in your head" approach, as opposed to running from zombies and shooting everything in sight. (Not that I don't love those games, too.) Think of it as more of an "E for Effort" than actually "this game is high quality," if you like, as that's more accurate. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 460 Joined: 17 Jun 2009  | If it's anything like the first Saw movie, then I might buy it. I didn't relly like any of the movies past number 2, and that was pushing it a bit. |
Senior Editor Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007 |
Ok, let's all agree right now that the Saw movies aren't good movies. You are absolutely correct that the writing and acting are bad, and that they're about as sophisticated as my cat. But not being a good movie doesn't mean it's not a horror movie. You don't like the protagonist, but the godlike villain is a staple of horror, as is the dark, dreary atmosphere, the isolation, the feeling of helplessness, and so forth. Are there better examples of horror? Sure. But that doesn't mean Saw isn't horror. |
On the Record  Posts: 6403 Joined: 14 Sep 2008  | Wow, I thought this would suck. I mean, after Saw III and IV... Btw, this still isn't the game with the most exploded heads ever. Try playing PsiOps - every time you sneak-sap someone, their head bursts from your PSYCHIC ABILITIES!!!
Pretty much my thoughts. Especially since I watched the first 3 movies one after another with few of my friends and we all agreed that 1 was great, 2 was okay, 3 was meh. ...Just like Matrix. |
Beat Writer Posts: 172 Joined: 11 Dec 2008   | My instructor for a "Gothic Horror Literature" class (which was a lot of fun) basically described "horror" as the only genre that is named after a familiar emotion, fear. There are also games, books and movies that have horrific elements but are not labeled as "horror", per se. I'm a fan of the "King's Field" games for the Playstation/Playstation 2 consoles, and while the game was good for an FPS RPG, the game(s) did well in capturing the feel of a dungeon that it was a little creepy (especially with those damn transparent ghosts). On Topic: Nice Review Susan. It seems like it's going back to the original roots of the first two (though I think the first one was the best so far). It's also nice to see the idea of horror games branching off to other genres besides adventure/action gameplay. This kind of reminds me of a grim/gritty version of "Spy vs. Spy". |
Paperboy Posts: 40 Joined: 26 Dec 2008 |
I'd have to say the game is probably closer to the second movie than the first. It's set between those two and uses the characters from the first, but it has the same "one large environment trap broken into a series of smaller trials" set up as the second (or probably closer to the third, since all of the trials involve one person having to try to save other people). It was, however, written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the writers of the first movie, and they also helped to design the traps. |
Beat Writer  Posts: 171 Joined: 2 Oct 2009    | I am going to give this game a try ;) hope i like the game as much as the movies :D |
Senior Editor Posts: 2810 Joined: 9 Jan 2007 | Saw 2 is complete pants. I rather enjoyed 5, though. |
Infamous Scribbler  Posts: 695 Joined: 5 Jun 2009  | Good review, I didn't even know Saw the game was even out. :/ |
BANNED  Posts: 2007 Joined: 26 Jul 2009  | Nice review, I thought that saw was going to be beyond bad, but you've convinced me it might not be. I still wont get it though... User was banned for: What does your name mean on UrbanDictionary?. (Permanent) |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 56 Joined: 4 Oct 2009   |
Yeah, same here. I really like the first movie but the others aren't that great. But the game looks interesting. |
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Review: Saw
A perfect illustration of why more games need exploding heads.
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